EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

The pole keeps watch

While classic traffic light cameras - sometimes even with chemical film - are still very common in Europe, their days are numbered. That doesn't mean that red light violations won't be controlled any longer, but the cameras are becoming multifuctional and even more inconspicuous. A rather elegant traffic control system is being installed in Estonia.

Control over F1 cars

When there are 50 people working at high speed on a strange looking, logo-adorned vehicle and one guy sitting low and dry who doesn't do much more than tapping a pedal with his big toe, this guy is the public hero and the whole thing is called Formula 1 racing. These days, even the big toe tapping isn't much of a challenge anymore, since there are so many sensors and actors at work.

Outback racers

Australia - deadly animals, marsupials, convicts, desert and sun. The perfect place for a solar car race, and this year an American student car with European electronics took part rather successfully.

Hydrogen racer

In the olden, golden days of EDA when everyone who was able to afford a trade licence in the Valley just knew he would make a fortune selling to Cadence one year later and Magma was a synonym for good parties at DAC. Since then, EDA has lost some of its glamour and, longing for it, some companies try their luck at the races.

Tesla has a good Goodwood

For non-car-aficionados who like a nice read, Goodwood is just a location in a jolly good P.G. Wodehouse story. Everybody else knows that Goodwood Festival of Speed is a car culture festival for historic and contemporary motorsport with an atmosphere of luxury and excitement.

The speed of electricity

One of the really exciting opportunities of electrically powered cars is that they won’t have to look like cars used to. Small motors, no exhaust pipes, gear boxes and fuel tanks, but flexibly configurable batteries. At ‘normal’ speeds, not even aerodynamic is an issue. It is, however, when the vehicle is powered with 340 horsepowers.

Student racer

While Students owning racehorses is a cliché reserved for Oxford and Cambridge (maybe slightly outdated, P.G. Wodehouse has been dead for some time), students with their own car racing team are not quite as common.

Look back in OLED

It’s been twelve months since the ORECA 01 racing car from Oreca racing made its first appearance at the Sarthe and now it’s ready to take on the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2010. A special mirror, probably bordering on disqualification, is supposed to lend it the necessary edge.